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Letter to the editor: Clark off base on global warming

Jim Clark’s article on global warming requires a clear correction. It ignores well established facts and gives the impression that there is room for personal “judgment” on whether human burning of fossil fools has led to strong, rapid rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the earth’s temperature or not.

There is no question that a large body of scientific data shows a strong correlation between the increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide and global temperatures since the industrial revolution. Anyone disputing this or thinks it is open to opinions has not looked at the data or is simply ignorant.

High school physics teaches how an atmosphere richer in carbon dioxide (and methane) causes rising temperatures by trapping the emitted surface heat while passing the sun’s heat producing radiation. The underlying physics is well and long understood.



When Mr. Clark attempts to discredit climate science by hinting that the topic of global warming started as “buzz” by scientists conversing over beer in British pubs, he not only demonstrates his ignorance about the long history of the related scientific research but also shamefully denies the gravitas of the situation. Mr. Clark mentions several times that he is a lawyer; I am not a lawyer, but a physicist.

Bill Lenth



Truckee


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